Conor phoned me today whilst I was in Aldi, in the middle of making a big decision.
Emma wanted to have lasagna for dinner. Aldi sell it in two different varieties – a slightly smaller one with a creamier sauce, and a bigger one with a red wine ragu. The decision was whether to get two smaller ones or one bigger one.
Yes, that’s the kind of decision I sometimes find myself labouring over. And yes, I know that’s ridiculous. Let’s move on.
Conor phoned me right in the thick of it. I told him I’d have to ring him when I got home.
And I did. I threw the lasagna in the oven (I bought the bigger one) and went upstairs and phoned him.
We chatted until the lasagna was ready and bid one another farewell.
What is the point of all this? Well, nothing really, except that I’m glad I waited until I was home to talk to Conor.
The people who are important to us deserve our attention. Our full attention. The problem is that I don’t think we realise when we’re not all there. We think we’re there because our bodies are there, or our voices are there. But we’re not there. We’re cut in two. Or three. Or four.
If I’d have had the conversation in Aldi, I would have half been focusing on my Conor, half picking random things off the shelf and forgetting what I went to Aldi for, and not accomplishing much in either direction.
So whatever you’re doing, no matter how tiny – and no matter how great you think you are at multitasking – try giving that one thing all your attention. That’s what humans were designed to do.
When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. Wayne Dyer said that.